ratings

Now that the winter break is over, college students are inundated with work and need to worry again about classes, studying, and tests. So, of course, they'll spend time on Facebook instead. But there are other useful and entertaining sites worth the student's visit.

This is a brief list of four outstanding resources that can help students in college. No student should miss the opportunity to use these sites.

DormNoise If Facebook isn't good enough for college students, they can try out DormNoise, which is another social network designed specifically for them.

DormNoise is centered on a calendar system, which provides students with a visual look at upcoming campus events, student group meetings, and personal engagements. That calendar is the central hub for the site and others can see what students are up to at any time. It's a unique way to connect with others and it actually works quite well to simplify that process and keep abreast of campus events.

That said, the site isn't open for anyone to join--users must be between the ages of 18 and 24 and sign up with a ".edu" e-mail address. If the school is not recognized by the system, you can't sign up for the service. In fact, my alma mater isn't supported by DormNoise. DormNoise should eventually support every school. We hope.

Once I finally signed up for DormNoise with a different address, I found it to be a unique service that will help college students manage their lives. But there's one catch that can't be overlooked: the community is small, which means few people find reason to use it instead of a site like Facebook.… Read more

Correction, 12:11 p.m. PST: This story inadvertently gave an incorrect number for the tech job postings at Dice.com in February 2008. The actual number for that month was 94,423. The percentages that stem from that number also have been corrected.

Jobs posted on technology jobs site Dice.com rose 3.1 percent in February, its first sequential increase since late last summer, just before the economy started to really turn sour in September.

Tech job listings rose to 57,337 as of February 2, up from 55,609 in January, according to the company's monthly … Read more

Correction, 12:50 p.m. PST: This story initially mischaracterized a statement made by John Challenger regarding the severity of recent tech-related job cuts. He does not expect them to be as severe as those during the dot-com bust. Also the percentage figures cited within the various sectors reflect the increase in layoffs last year compared with 2007, and not the percentage of jobs cut.

Job cuts in the tech sector increased 74.2 percent in 2008 compared with the previous year, as the industry was battered by an unrelenting wave of layoffs, according to a report released Thursday.

Last … Read more

HotorNot.com, the infamous social rating site that made it through the dot-com bust has a new, and free iPhone app out. As you'd expect it lets you pass judgment on others by scoring them anywhere from 1 to 10. It also lets you tap into its "Meet Me" network where you can get in touch with other registered users to set up dates.

The software makes use of a few of the iPhone's hardware features, including GPS. This lets you hit a button to narrow down where the results are coming from. This works both … Read more

It's easier being prudent with your travel budget when you know how much those souvenirs really cost. This free converter lets you compare the value of currencies against each other. It is ideal for tracking international exchange rates, but loses something of its value from previous versions, when comparing among currencies was more intuitive. This newer version also adds banner advertising; thankfully unobtrusive.

You can still swap the master currency and compare to monies from other countries, but to do so you'll need to tap the currency name--U.S. dollars, for instance--and enter the amount you'd like … Read more

The British secretary of state for culture, media, and sports, Andy Burnham, told The Daily Telegraph recently that he thinks "cinema-style ratings" should be placed on all Web sites to grade them based on their content and decency.

According to Burnham, the Web is "a dangerous place" and we need to do a better job of ensuring children don't make their way to the wrong sites. He believes that by using the ratings system already imposed on films, it could do the world a great deal of good.

He's kidding, right? How can anyone expect a "cinema-style" ratings system to work in an environment where individuality and "user-owned" content are coveted above all else? Oh, and what about the whole enforcement of such an idea? Should we hire pimple-faced teenagers to check IDs before your 13-year-old decides to surf to HowardStern.com like they do at movie theaters?

The idea that anyone would want to place ratings on Web sites strikes me as, well, one of the dumbest Ideas I've heard in a long time. It's not that I'm against keeping kids away from questionable content. I simply don't know how a ratings system could do any good.… Read more

Despite being a fan of Zagat's restaurant surveys, I've never been overly impressed with the mobile applications for Windows Mobile Smartphone and PocketPC, BlackBerry, and Palm.

Regrettably, Zagat To Go '09 for the iPhone and iPod Touch ($9.99 per year) isn't markedly different.

The components to a great mobile app are all there--venerable content, click-to-call, a Web site link, OpenTable reservations for some restaurants, and search and sorting filters--but the whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts.

Stability is a major concern, the app cries for an in-app browser, and Zagat To Go … Read more

Zagat's iPhone debut has all the ingredients for making a great restaurant and nightspot ratings application for the iPhone--venerable content taken straight from the Zagat Survey, a phone number you can tap to initiate a call, a Web site link, OpenTable reservations and photos when available, and filters for searching by category and sorting results by ratings criteria. Yet somehow, the whole is slightly less than the sum of its parts.

This latest version handles GPS data much better than the debut build, a marked improvement. Now if it could just throw in an in-application browser for easily returning … Read more

Curious diners have a new friend in Urbanspoon, a practical dining discovery app that shows a playful side when you let it. Otherwise, it gets to the serious business of finding you food. GPS or various forms of manual input shine a light on the restaurants nearby. While there's also browsing by popularity or neighborhood or searching by name, the most interesting and invigorating feature is the slot machine on the main screen. Enthusiastically shake the iPhone (or press "shake") to set individual wheels in motion. They'll randomly land on a nearby neighborhood, cuisine, and price … Read more